Pho Tan

Don’t go here my wife and I just got food poisoning here last night. As soon as the food came we were a bit concerned. I should have listened to my wife’s instinct and left. The food wasn’t fresh. And now we are suffering from food poisoning. They barely get business so their food is old.

Terrible service, hair in my soup, small servings for an unreasonable price, soggy spring rolls, cold soup, very cold inside the restaurant. Never coming back.

I absolutely love this place, I have been going for years. My father knows the owner well and he is always friendly and smiling. I order the #37 spicy phở with coconut milk. It is amazing! Also the young coconut juice with coconut meat inside is to die for. Best phở hands down

Worst. Service. Ever. Two frantic waitresses on a very busy Saturday night. Tables not being cleaned and my order almost being missed.
1 star for the food. Typical Springroll, Rare beef, tendon Phở and lemon grass porkchop. We had the Vietnamese iced coffee. Unless you wanna pull an all nighter, skip this one. Super strong that it’s almost undrinkable. With the dozens of Phở places along Kingsway, I wonder why this place is still surviving.

Everytime I think of this place that local 1987 Malaca Rattan furniture jingle plays out in my head…” Phở Tan to go!” Its a comfy little jingle, just like this homey little Phở place.
Been to Phở Tan a number of times and its a good place to get some decent sub’s, alright satisfying Phở and some decent broken rice dishes for a very reasonable price. Love the grilled chicken rolls, the phở dac biet, the phở bo satay, the special beef noodle phở, and the lemongrass chicken. They do pretty good smoothies and milky boba tea too, though sometimes they run out of pearls and you just get coconut.
A decent meal for a decent price!

Tried it out here. Let me just tell you, the restaurant is cramped and it looks like a house lol
Anyway…
The phở here is great. I ordered a phở with rare beef, and a chicken salad roll. The salad roll was nice and it paired really well with the sweet vinegar sauce that went with it.
Now the phở.
Nice presentation. It tasted fresh, without a doubt. They gave some nice things to go with it, like slices of chili and bean sprouts. The broth was complex, with many flavours. The slice of lime really woke up the flavours of the soup. The noodles was al dente, and had a nice texture. The only problem I had wasn’t the food… It was the décor and ambiance. The restaurant was pretty cramped to be honest. It looked old, and I could see some paint chipping at the walls. And there was no A/​C, so that was a disappointment :(. Basically, come only when it’s chilly outside, and I recommend you don’t bring huge groups out to this place, and you enjoy the experience
Food ⁴⁄₅
Service ³⁄₅
Price ³⁄₅
Quality ⁴⁄₅
Would come again if it’s cold :)

Worst phở I have ever eaten in my life. I ordered #22 beef brisket with beef ball and when I received my order I had no brisket at all but instead had squishy, yellow fat. I also ordered water, didn’t receive it the first time I asked and when I asked a second time the water I was given was warmer than my soup. When I asked them about the brisket the whole kitchen staff came out and began arguing with me in front of all the costumers. Worst phở experience I’ve ever had.

# 38! Great cheap eat. Don’t be thrown off by their seemingly abrasive attitude, they mean well. Great staff after you get to know them ;)

I love this place! After trying out many Vietnamese restaurants, I still come back to Phở Tan. They have another restaurant located on Main St.
The restaurant design itself makes it feel like you are eating at someone’s house.
Delicious BBH, phở, and rice dishes. Deep fried spring rolls are crispy and tasty. Can’t go wrong.

This place is pretty good, and cheap as well! First time I came I had the grilled chicken on rice and I was pleased with the quality of it, second time I had the classic beef with noodles and I was also a fan of that as well. The quality of the food is pretty good, nothing outstanding but for the price you get a lot more than what you spend for.
I actually ordered a mango bubble tea and the quality of it was amazing, a lot better than bubble tea you could pick up from an actual established bubble tea place which was pretty interesting. It’s a shame they only have coconut jelly as if they had the classic tapioca or other add-​ins it could be really good.

Looking for a good phở place can be tricky, especially when you’re moving to a new city. When I first came to Vancouver, I found Phở Tan and didn’t have to bother trying other places because this place was perfect. It’s not just their tasty phở, we’ve tried almost everything on their menu and they are all so delicious. One of my favorite things to order there is the avocado shake because let me tell you, it is hard to find a place that can make a good avocado shake. This is coming from the girl who orders one wherever she sees it.

Phở Tan has another location in Vancouver, which supposedly serves better food haha but since this location is nearer to where I live, I decided to check it out!
It’s located in a little green house on Kingsway, near Church’s Chicken! The inside is really homey looking with basic décor. We ordered their seafood phở and beef flank phở and both were pretty decent! Their broth is a lot sweeter than most places, with msg usage at a minimum.
We managed to polish off both of our large bowls. It was satisfying, but nothing to write home about. There are better places, but Phở tan is great for some no frills, basic phở!

Wanted to try someplace new for lunch and the girlfriend and I settled on Phở Tan. We’ve driven past here several times and always wondered about it. Glad we finally went in.
I got my usual every meat soup and found the broth nice and flavorful without being overly oily. The amount of meat in the bowl was awesome. I don’t think I’ve ever gotten more in a bowl without ordering extra. Nice thick-​cut slices of beef too. Almost like a super tender roast beef. :-)
We also got the grilled chicken salad rolls and the spring rolls. Both were fairly tasty with decent dipping sauces.

Though I am still trying to figure out the Vietnamese experience (and maybe that biases this review a bit) I can also say that I am not dying to come back here to explore the menu more.
Some items on note on the downside… Very little in the way of vegetarian on the menu (or better said, lack of beef). All of the broth is beef based. They also only take cash or debit card — of all the places I have been I have found this to be a rare experience and I am in fact surprised to see several small establishments be novel in this area (such as taking the Square Wallet). Anyway…
Not having much to compare it to the phở I had was okay. The portion was big. The service was relatively quick but at the same time not very helpful either.

Arguably, one of the best phở places in Burnaby. Not the cheapest around, but the pricing definitely reflects the quality of the food. I often come here for the bun bo hue. Its not overly spicy and the soup has a good hint of lemongrass. Both the amount of meat and noodles are fair for the price you pay. The spring rolls are quite standard as well. I come here often and I must say the food is very consistent. If you are looking for a decent phở place in Burnaby, look no further.

I walked in and the server barely recognize my existence… he kept looking at his iPad and told me «anywhere». So I sat down and ordered by yelling at him my order as he never came to me. I ordered the dry noodle. The seafood that came with it was cold. The fake crab meat was stiff and straight out of the package. The shrimps was cold and soggy too. It was one of the worse bowl of noodles I can remember having. You’ve been warned.

Dropped in for quickie lunch in the midst of doing errands. I really enjoy the satay beef phở at the Main and 30^th location, but this time at the Kingsway location, the broth was too intense and thick for my liking. It sure packed a spicy punch, but I couldn’t make out the individual flavours (lemon grass and a touch of coconut) like I could at the Main St. location. I did chat with the server a bit and I was informed that the Burnaby restaurant is a family extension of the Main St. restaurant with the brother running the former and the sister running the latter. It would be nice to get some consistency across the Phở Tan chains.

Good phở, not the best I’ve ever had.
Whatever the adventurer’s choice is, thats the one I ended up getting, along with some stuffed chicken wings to share. I thought the wings would be quite pricey for just 3 wings, but they were actually pretty big! And they are stuffed with the pork /​veg filling for the spring rolls. I think I prefer the regular spring rolls… as much as I love bacon, I love skin, pork scratchings, etc. this was just a bit much for me. Well, it wasn’t bad, but i’d probably have half a wing.
Overall, not a bad spot, I think there are some better places to hit up!

It would be seriously remiss of me to not write a review for this place, seeing as I visit so often…
3 easy and affordable Steps to Happiness:
1. Go to Phở Tan in Burnaby
2. Order #37
3. Order #B2
*Congratulations and you’re welcome.

Tucked in between a Greek restaurant and a Sukiyaki restaurant, Phở Tan is not that noticable when you drive by. It looks tiny from the outside, but they have about 12 – 14 tables inside. The servers were friendly and the food came out fairly quick.
For 2 people, we each ordered a bowl of phở and shared a Vietnamese sub. The broth was piping hot and flavorful. The noodles were cooked perfectly, –not too soft. The rare beef was rare and sat on top of our steaming bowl of noodles. It was a very satisfying bowl after a hard workout.
The sub had marinated pork with pickled carrots and radish. The bread was crunchy and toasted. There was enough sauce and meat in the sub that it had the perfect balance of salty with a hint of sour and sweet. I usually eat my bowl of phở and nibble on the sub, but this time, I couldn’t even put down the sub without finishing it!
I am definitely coming back and am glad we decided to walk in.